Peebles 2- 2021 SHYL 10U Baseball Tournament Champions
Manchester- 2021 SHYL 10U Baseball Tournemant Runners-Up
Action from the July 9 10U Basehall Tournament Championship game. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
As the Adams County Fair approached, the summer softball and baseball seasons in the Southern Hills Youth League would to a close with the wrap-up of tournament play. One of the more anticipated tournament title contests took place on July 9 at Koehler Field in Russellville in 10U baseball as the Manchester Greyhounds, SHYL unbeaten regular season champions, battled the Peebles 2 squad, a group of young Indians out for revenge after a 12-6 loss to the Hounds in the regular season.
As so often happens in this kid of tournament situation, the tables get turned on the regular season outcome. behind a complete game effort from southpaw Braylen Stephens, and some big hits from Stephens, Chase Fossyl, and Jesse Alonso, the Indians got their revenge, taking an early lead and never looking back as they took the 10U title with a 10-2 five-inning win.
The championship tilt began as a pitcher’s duel, with Stephens and Manchester’s Carson Horner both tossing two shutout frames, Stephens retiring all six hitters he faced in that two-inning span. The Indians got a leadoff double by Fossyl in the first but left him stranded, and a leadoff single in the top of the second from Alonso, who was erased from the base paths when he was caught stealing.
The Tribe broke the ice in a big way in the top of the third, when they plated four runs to claim a lead they never gave up. The scoring parade began on an RBI double by Stephens, who later scored on an error to make it 2-0. base hit to left by Alonso plated two more and the Indians were up four.
The Greyhounds got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the third, when Ryan Parker led off with a single and came around to score later on a Peebles throwing error.
Peebles answered that Manchester score by posting another four-spot in their half of the fourth. A two-bagger into the left center gap by Fossyl drove home the first run of the inning, forcing a pitching change for the Hounds with Bentley Colvin coming to the mound. After a walk to Stephens and Brantley Myers being hit by a pitch loaded the bases, a walk forced in another run and then Alonso came up big again with his second two-run single of the night, giving Peebles a commanding 8-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the fourth the Greyhounds scored another single run when Bentley Colvin reached on a missed third strike and eventually crossed the plate on a wild pitch, but the Indians countered that in the top of the fifth with two more runs, bot crossing on a base hit to left by Stephens, making it 10-2 Peebles.
With his pitch count limit approaching, Stephens went back to the mound for the bottom of the fifth and promptly struck out the side, putting the contest in a unique situation. Since the 10U rules state that a team cannot score more than seven runs in an inning and the Greyhounds were down by eight with just one at-bat left, the game was declared over and the Indians let loose and celebrated the championship win.
The members of the Peebles 2 championship squad included: #11 Slade Abbott, #10 Brantley Myers, #30 Carson Storer. #7 Connor Storer, #14 Chase Fossyl, #15 Zander Applegate, #38 Jesse Alonso, # 45 Holden Crum, # 8 Kamikian Kinhalt, and #12 Braylen Stephens. The Indians were coached by Justin Myers, Cody Abbott, and Michael Fossyl.
Members of the runner-up Greyhounds included: #10 Bentley Colvin, #32 Westyn Colvin, #24 Luke Rigdon, #33 Carson Horner, #25 J.Q. Owensby, #16 Conor Lynch, #8 Grayson Carrow, #99 Ryan Parker, #13 Jasper Walker, and #9 Josh Tener. Manchester was coached by Nathan Colvin and Justin Rigdon.
